Pelosi: 'We've had plenty of spending cuts'

2/10/13 9:17 AM EST

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says the tens of billions of dollars of spending cuts under sequestration that kicks in on March 1 can be avoided through eliminating tax subsidies for oil companies.

"The fact is we've had plenty of spending cuts, $1.6 trillion in the Budget Control Act. What we need is growth," Pelosi said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday." Slashing spending indiscriminately, she said, would hurt growth prospects for the U.S. economy.

"It is almost a false argument to say we have a spending problem," the California Democrat asserted.

Pelosi didn't rule out additional spending cuts, but called for new revenue to reduce the projected $845 billion deficit this year.

"What we do need is more revenue and more cuts," Pelosi said. "What I would like to see that is a big, balanced, bold [budget] proposal. Short of that, we must do something to avoid the sequester."

"We have made the cut in terms of agriculture subsidies, there are tens of billions of cuts there. That should be balanced for eliminating subsidies for Big Oil," Pelosi added. "It isn't as much as spending problem as it is a priorities." Pelosi opposes cuts to education and health programs.

Republicans have called for changes in Medicare and Medicaid, among other entitlement programs, to help reduce the long-term deficit projections.